Fakes, Forgeries and the Experience of Art

From paintings ‘by’ Vermeer and Leonardo to ancient Roman artefacts and NFTs, this course explores a variety of fakes, both forgeries and replicas, to question the motives for producing such objects. We examine how this history of fakes impacts our understanding of art by challenging our perceptions of what has cultural value. We look at how the art market drives the production of fakes, how the power of ‘the expert’ complicates authenticity and how the conservator supposedly reveals the ‘truth’ of an artwork.

This study day uses case studies of famous forgers and the history of art fakes (including sanctioned replicas) so that we can explore how the art market the creates the conditions for fakery. More broadly, we explore the concept of authenticity with the goal of examining what we give value to and why.

Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi c.1500. Private Collection

Sarah Jaffray is an art historian, educator, curator and writer based in London.

Before her current position as head of art history at City Lit, London's largest adult education college, Sarah was a curator in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. For six years, she was the lead educator for the Bridget Riley Art Foundation and has also worked at Wellcome Collection exploring the connections of art, medicine and human experience. Prior to relocating to London for family, she was as a tenured professor of Art History based in Los Angeles. Sarah has been an art history lecturer since 2003.

Her first MA in Art History focused on the links between poetry and painting in late 19th century France while her second MA in Cultural Studies focused on photography and political protest.

Sarah lectures on a variety of topics and prefers to place artworks and objects in their wider social and cultural contexts, from the European Renaissance to the contemporary, emphasising new narratives and approaches to Western Art History. Her art historical research emphasises modern art, the politics and philosophies of the 19th and 20th centuries and how they are related to artistic process: drawing, printmaking, painting and photography.